State College Historic Site

Replacing a burned structure, this Spanish Colonial Revival building was erected in 1926 as the new home of the Penn State Photo Shop. Three generations snapped and processed photos here into the 1970s.

From the early 1900s, W.W. Smith had operated a home photography business on this site. In 1917, his assistant, Millheim native Robert H. Breon, became the Smith Studio's manager and, in 1920, its owner. He and brother-in-law Guy Z. Stover then began doing business as the Penn State Photo Shop. At the end of World War II, Navy photographer Bob Jr. joined his dad. From 1963 to 1970, R.H. "Robin" Breon III did photographic and darkroom work.

"The Home of Good Photography" was the official Penn State LaVie photographer from 1928 to 1969, and the State College High School yearbook portrait photographer from 1916 to 1967. In 1964, when the building was sold to Jack Sapia, the photo business continued in the basement. R.H. Sr. retired in the late 1960s; R.H. Jr. closed the studio in 1972.

B.P. Moyer Jewelry opened in the new subdivided storefront in 1965, Kranich's Jewelers in 1976, The Bumblebee in 1970, The Shoe Fly in 1971. In 1972, The Shandygaff Saloon replaced the large studio at the back of the building, where many Penn State student groups had posed for portraits.

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